Leveling or grading instrument.



No. 630,856. Patented Aug. 15,1899. F. C. BROWN. LEVELING 0B GRADING INSTRUMENT.

(Application filed Mar. 16, 1898.)

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NlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK CORNING BROl/VN, OF LOVELAND, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF. ONE- HALF TO ORLANDO D. SHIELDS, OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO.

LEVELING OR GRADING INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 630,856, dated August 15, 1899.

Application filed March 16, 1898. Serial No. 673,915. (No model.)

To all whom it may 0077106770: of the spheres or bulbs and constitutes a Beitknown thatl,FRANK CORNING BROWN, convenient means of admitting water to the a citizen of the United States, residing at Lovetube and of opening and closing the air-inlet land, in the county of Larimer and State of and the outlet from said bulb to the tube. 5 Colorado, have invented a new and useful The screw-threaded valve 6 is also a stopper Leveling or Grading Instrument, of which the for the bulb in each instance. When it is following is a specification. unscrewed and removed, water may be sup- My invention relates to improvements in plied through the inlet thus left open. When leveling or grading instruments in which are it is screwed quite home, it closes simultane- 6o 10 a tube with a sphere on top and point on its ously the air-inlet 11 and the outlet of the lower end, provided with a connection for said bulb to the connecting-tube. This allows a hose near the ground-line, a tube with a the atmospheric pressure to reach the water, gage-glass, means for making a water joint and in the case of the lower bulb 5 also allows on said glass, provided with a connection for the access of the water to the said bulb. 15 a hose near the ground, a graduated staff and The operation is as follows: The tubes 4. means to adjust the tube (with the glass) and and 8 are filled with water, as shown, after secure it to said stafl, and a hose-pipe conthe hose '7 has been connected. Said hose necting the two tubes, said hose and tubes to may be one hundred or two hundred feet, as be filled with water, making an instrument the operator may require. The valve 6 of 20 especially adapted for the use of the farmer each sphere is released, the tube 4 is forced in grading his ditches for irrigating. It is in the ground, and the level is taken on the simple in construction and operation and is glass gage. The operator wishing to have a accurate. Iattain these objects by the mechgrade of three inches in one hundred feet anism illustrated in the accompanying drawwill lower his gage-tube so many inches on his 2 5 ing, which represents the same in side elevastaff and plow his ditch until the water comes tion, some of the parts being shown in side to the line on the glass. l elevation and others broken away. It will be evident that certain changes may The line 1 represents the ground, 2 the point he made in the construction of my instrument of the plain tube, 3 the connecting-coupling, without departing from the scope of the in- 0 t the tube, and 5 the sphere provided with a vention. Hence I do not limit myself to the screw-threaded top to receive the valve-stem exact details of construction and arrangement 6, and a valve-seat at the point where it is conof parts herein shown and described. nected to the tube. An opening 11 is provided Having described my invention, what I do in the sphere 5 for an air-vent. Sis the hoseclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters 35 coupling and the gage-glass coupling of the Patent, is

adjustable tube; 9, the glass gage, provided 1. In a grading instrument, the combinawith the gage-line 9"; 10, the sphere having tion of a relatively-fixed hollow part 5 having a tube on its lower end to receive the gagean outlet-opening and valve-seat in its botglass and provided with a clamp to receive tom, and an air-inlet 11 and water-inlet ar- 0 40 the stad 15. The lower end of said tube is ranged side by side in its top, with a valve 6 provided with a screw-thread to receive the which is screw-threaded to engage the corretube 8. I sponding threaded wall of the said water-in- 12 and 13 are rubber packing-rings. let, and provided with a head of sufficient 7 is a hose-pipe connecting the tubes t and area to cover the said air-inlet, the said valve 5 b, said tubes being about four feet high. being of suflicie'nt length to extend diamet- The object of the valve 6 is to keep the air rieally through the said hollow part from the from entering the tube when the instrument top to the bottom thereof and fit into the said is in a horizontal position. valve-seat and outlet in order that the air The sphere or bulb 5 being of glass permits inlet and the said outlet may be simultanemo 50 easy comparison of the level of the water risously closed or simultaneously opened by the ing; therein with that in the gage-tube 9. Each same device, another hollow part 10 substantially identical in construction with the said part 5 and provided with a similar valve, means for supporting the said hollow part 5 in a fixed position, means for supporting and Vertically adjusting the said part 10, and tubular connections between the said parts 5 and 10, substantially as set forth.

2. In a grading instrument the combination of a hollow part 10 having an outlet and valve-seat in its bottom and a water-inlet and air-inlet arranged side by side in its top, with a valve which is screwed into the said waterinlet and provided with a head adapted to close and open the said air-inlet while the said valve, extending down through the said hollow part simultaneously opens or closes the said outlet in the bottom thereof, means for supporting and vertically adjusting the said part 10, a similar relatively-fixed hollow part 5 provided with water-inlet, air-inlet, outlet and valve as aforesaid, the tubular posts 4 and 8 for supporting the said hollow parts,

and the tube 7 connecting the said posts for V the purpose of completing communication between the said hollow parts, substantially as set forth.

3. A grading instrument provided with a hollow part having in its top an air-inlet and a proximate water-inlet with screw-threaded wall, and in its bottom an outlet and surrounding valve-seat, a screw-threaded valve turning in said water-inlet, extending through the said hollow part and adapted to open the airinlet and the outlet simultaneously or close them simultaneously at will, means for vertically adjusting the said hollow part, a tubular conduit extending therefrom, and an elevated relatively-fixed hollow part at the other end of the said conduit, substantially as set forth.

FRANK CORNING BROWN.

YVitnesses:

P. HAUFLER, D. RpPATTERSON. 

